Mail-distributing machine



v. GARCIA v MAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE June 22 1926. 1,589,383

Filed Oct. 19. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 V /zzt'ezzt Garvia,

INVENTOR I vw-msss; ArrcRNEY June 22 1926.. 1,589,383

V. GARCIA MAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE I Filed Oct 19. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Vncezat aaraz'a/ WITNESS: AWORNEY June 22 1926.

V. GARCIA MAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE Filed 06%.. 19, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I June 22 1926. 1,589,383

V. GARCIA MAIL DISTRIBUTING MACHINE Filed 00:. 19. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 2%, 10. '/f J7 6 4 f m m r75 I 7 V III] 3* /z o a Z Z LO 0 O C 0 00 (3/ 75% o o o 00 o 1 f l i 3 [gum INVENTOR Patented June ZZ, 1926.

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Application filed October. 19, 1925. Serial No. 634510,

Thi intention relates o a ma dist i tmg-inachine the general object at the invention beingto. provide, key operated means for. distributing mail from a pile to any desired one of a plurality of chambers, so

that the mail will be separated according to States or other. Localities. A further. object of the invention is. to provide.- electric means, operated trom. the keysfifior taking the mail trom the pile and placing it upon a rotary member, with electri'ceoperalted'means; for. causing the mail to 1pass from the rotary; member into the chainersu- -w :A. still fiurthen object ofthe invention is to' proy'ide means-for preventing the. feed- (at more than one piece'oi' mail at a tiniefrom. the pile.

This invention also consists in certain otller-Tfeatures of construction and in the caoaaabisnation and: arrangement of the several parts to: 'be hereinafter tull-yl described, illustrated; in theaccompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the appended claims. ln'describing my invention 1n detail, reference Wlll. be l d to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or correspondingv parts throughout the several views, and: in which 1-- I Figure 1 is a plan view of the invention. Figure 2 is an enlarged plan View, with parts in sectiongof the means for taking the mail: from the pile.

Figure? is a similar View but showing the parts in a different position.

Figure 4 is a section on line oi Figure- Figure-5 'ure 2;

Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional! view on the line (r-6 of Figure 5.

is a section on line 5-5 of Fig;

Figure 7* is a firagmentary bottom plan Figure 8 is a. view of: one ofthe magnetic means-fol;- operating a sliding gate.

--Eigure 9,is an elevation.

* Figure 10. is averticalsectional' view Eigiire L1 is'an enlarged horibontali sectional' viegv shaming the entrance to onev of "the chamherslandi cit-"said? chamber. 12 i ar'vel tlbah View through; the switxili'shlock 'Figfi re r u t .fpmed. on the, 5 @he e fienge torn? a o h the bottom of W l'16l it l8. I P o y pported on a plate 113. which also ppo he m gnets it which, when trough and directing the";'article Thus the disk willf i r a diegrvel emetie 9 W1? l v .i ets-ame the e n ws, L i d qates'a liae up n wh e 1s 1 190r ecl' hev entm post a an the, casing .55. The casing Includes, a rear QXWH F 3. of semi-circular shape. it di k 4; is rotatably l mounted on the top. of the casing and p a e 5 supported by the acket x rom the; casing and its e t nsi covers the disk with the exception of a smallper of: the edge hereotwhich is left posed etween the. langes and 31" and the casing.

which formed by=the partsi'of the-disk. Chambers E a e. formed by: the flanges or partitions 8 onthe extension 35', and-these chambers are i in communication with, the

trough by;- means, odi thenarrowl passages 9 and a sliding strizpj-1,0"Tfiortningfa, gate mounted in each chamber; and itsf passage.

An 'arm 1i1.lS fastened: toze'ach :gate and; said arm extends downwardly into the casing connected with an' annatur'e 12 energized, with attract the armature and thus cause. the arm to movethe gate until its curved front enob'striikes-i the inner wall or. flangev 5." 01? the trough, thus closing: the therein into the passage. 9: and chainben 7?. The armature is connected with the base 13 by a spring! 12- which tends to hold. the parts with the gate in.'open=-position or in a position where it will! not obstruct the trough. The disk 4 is. connected with ai iiertically arranged shaft supported by the post 2 and rotated from anysuitableg source by the blade 126 engaging a pulley 17: on the'shatt. carry with it an object plitoedfinl the. trough; the; disk being formed of orcovered witlt'frictional material which will causetlie objeetsto travel in the; trough with the diskf The objects or mail, shown at A, are

placed in a chute 18 ontlley may broi1ght seen at; by: :mfarm: 2:1 which is fastened;

the arm 21 will swing over and thus slide the first piece ofjmail through a small slot 25 at the front end-of the chute 18 at one side thereof which is in communication withthe trough so that this-pieceof mail-will;-

be moved into the trough and upon the disk 4. As it is being passedzf-romy-the chute, it will be seized by the pair of feeding rollers 26 and then'by th'e pairiof feed ing rollers 27. These rollers are rubber covered, as shown"at"28, and'the outer -ro llers of each pairare provided with I gears 29 whichmesh \vith'jafgear 30 on stub shaft 31 which also carri'esa pulley32 which is connected by a' 'b elt' '33'with a pulley' 34 on the shaft15',"'so;-that*the outer rollers of the two pairs of' feedrollers are rotated fron'r said shaft 15. "Thief-two rollers 27 are geared together bythe -gears "34; so that the rollers rotate in un'ison: The inner roller of the pair 26' is -driven'at a slower'speed than is the outer roller ofthis 'pair'fthrough means fof thei'shaft 35'iwhich is connected with the. shaft ofFisaiddnner roller' 26' by meansof the iworm gearl i 36 and which -is connected. -with 1the shaft "15 by the 'worm gearing 'fIh'isvslow movement of --th'e inner. roller 1 '26 "with the movement of the outer roller will prevent-more than one piece of mail from beingffed betweeirtlie rollers at once. -11" lib-"x 130"? 1 To prevent the mail 'from' being accident ally fed from :the chute: beforethe operation of the magnetic-'rmean's, I provide-an arm 38 which normally'ext ends across "the path of the pieces of mail passing'through the opening"- 25 and this' arm is eccentrically connected to adisk:39'rotatably mounted on a stub -s'haft-l0carried by a bracket a l, and said diskisI-coinnectedby a link 42 with the arm: 21, so that the disk will be rocked by the movement of said arm. The arm 38 "is provided with a. slot 43 through which passes the shaft of the :outer roller 29.: Theserollers29-are each formed of-two portions spaced-apart attheir-inner ends to receive the armyas .clearlyshown in Figure 5. Thus the. arm-39-normally lies in the pathof an envelope or other piece of mail, but is swung outof said. path when the arm 21 moves forwardly underthe action of the magnetic means, so that the piece of mail moved forwardly by the'blOCk -QO can pass between the-feedrollersuandi'thus .be fed intothe trough.

A switch board-. lrisnarranged inl'front of the device and is provided with theflswitch plungers 45, eachfofa-which vhen depressed, will first engage a contact ;46 in ithe circuit 47 ofthemagnet-Qii, theab'atterybeing shown cat-1B, so asto energize: saidma'gnet '26 and then on the further downwardmovement of eachvplunger 145, it will engage ';a: contact 48 and'thus close-the circuit-A9 to one .of the magnets la it-zbeing. seenfgfrom Figure 13 that the plungers 45 will all close the circuit tothe magnet 26, but each plunger will-only close a circuit to one of the wma-gnets 14. Thus, upon the operation of each switch-plunger, the circuit of the magnet 23 will firstbe closed to actuate the arm -.2l.-,- which willmove the first piece of mail from the pile into the trough, the piece bei ingz fe'd into the trough by the rollers 26 and 27. Itisthen fed forwardly through the trough by means of the rotating disk 4. On the final movement of the key,'the magnet 14. wvhichis associated with said said key, will be energized and thus the gate 10, con- 'nected with the armature of said magnet will'b'e movedac-ross the trough, so that as the piece of mail reaches this part of the trough, it'will strike the gate and will thus be directed into the chamber 7 of said gate. 'In this manner, the mail is sorted. The operator cair-read. the addresses on the pieces 'ofinail' as ':they appear before .him when seatedat the switch board 44:,- so that it is, simply necessary for him to depress that key which Y is designated with the chamber -where t he:1-piece of mail is'to be sent. The apparatus will'then take said piece of mail to said chamber. Thus the mailandthelike can be easily and quickly sorted. i i? It is thought 'from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of my inventionwill be readily apparent. "Idesire'it to be understood that I may Em'ake changes in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the sev- 00 bralparts, provided that such changes fall wit-hinrthe scopeof the appended claims.

What I claim is i 1.'Aisorting device comprising a rotary member, supporting means adjacent the ro- 105 tary member, flanges supported thereby and ,forming with an edge of said rotary memher a trough, a plurality of receiving chambers in communication with a trough, a gate -in each chamber which, when projected, will 110 enter the trough and cause articles on the rotary member within the trough to pass into the chamber, a receptaclefor holding the articles to be sorted, means for feeding the articles therefrom into the trough and 11 means for actuating the gates.

2. A sorting device,--comprising a receptacle for-holding the :objects'to be sorted, chambers for receiving the sorted articles, a conveyor-.for carrying the objects from the 12 receptacle-to the chambers, agate associated with each chamber and extendingacross the'co'nveyor when'projected to causean article=on theconveyor to enter the chamber, magnetic means for moving the gates,;magnetic means for feeding the objects from the receptacle on to the conveyor, circuits for such means and keys for closing thecircuits, each key first closing the circuit of the feedi g means for the receptacle and. then the oircuit for the magnetic means of the gate, the chamber of which the key is associated with, a pair of feed rollers for receiving the articles passing from the receptacle and delivering them on to the conveyor and means for rotating the rollers at different speeds so that but one object will be fed at a time.

3. A sorting device, comprising a receptacle for holding the objects to be sorted, chambers for receiving thesorted articles, a conveyor for carrying the objects from the receptacle to the chambers, a gateassociated with each chamber and extending across the conveyor when projected to cause an article on theconveyor to enter the chamber, magnetic means for moving the gates, magi'ietic means for feeding the objects from the receptacle on to the conveyor, circuits for such means and keys for closing the circuits, each key first closing the circuit of the feeding means for the receptacle and then the circuit for the magnetic means of the gate, the chamber of which the key is associated with, two pairs of feed rollers for feeding the objects from the receptacle on to the conveyor, means for rotating one pair of rollers and one roller of the other pair at the same speed and means for rotating the fourth roller at a slower speed.

4:. A sorting device, comprising a receptacle to hold the articles to be sorted, a plurality of chambers for receiving the sorted articles, a conveyor for conveying the articles from the receptacle to the chambers, a gate in each chamber, magnetic means for projecting the gate across the conveyor to cause an article on the conveyor to enter the chamber, magnetic means for feeding the ar ticles one by one from the receptacle upon the conveyor, circuits for the magnetic means, keys for controlling the circuits, an arm normally extending across the path of an object leaving the receptacle and means for swinging the arm out of said path by the operation of the magnetic means for the receptacle.

A sorting device, comprising a chute for holding the articles to be sorted, a plurality of chambers for receiving the sorted articles, a conveyor for conveying the articles from the chute to the chambers, a gate in each chamber, magnetic means for projecting each gateacross the conveyor to cause an article on the conveyor to enter the chamber, a pivoted arm, a friction member thereon for engaging the front object in the chute to more it on to the conveyor when the arm is operated, magnetic means for operating the arm, circuits for the magnetic means, keys for closing the circuits, each key first closing the circuit of the magnetic means for the arm and then the circuit of the magnetic means of the gate with which the key is associated, two pairs of feed rollers for receiving the article from the chute and delivering to the conveyor, means for rotating three of the rollers, means for rotating the fourth roller at a slower speed, an arm extending across the path of an object leaving the chute and means for moving the arm from across said path by the operation of the arm which carries the friction member.

A sorting apparatus, comprising a chute for holding the objects to be sorted, a plurality of chambers for receiving the sorted objects, a disk, means for rotating the same, flanges forming with a portion of the dish a trough for conveying the objects from the chute to the chambers, gates in the charm bers, magnetic means for projecting the gates across the trough to cause an object to leave the conveyor and enter the chamber, magnetic means for conveying the objects from the chute on to the conveyor, magnetic means for moving the gates, circuits for such magnetic means and keys for closing the circuits.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

VINCENT GARCIA. 

